House Bill 199 enhances Drug Treatment Programs

For Immediate Release
Thursday, May 17, 2001

Contact:
Elizabeth Hirst
(850) 488-5394

FT. LAUDERDALE Governor Jeb Bush today signified his strong commitment to cutting drug abuse in Florida by signing House Bill 199 at the graduation ceremony of Judge Melanie May’s Broward County Drug Court.

“We are committed to dramatically decreasing drug abuse in Florida. The graduates here today demonstrate the effectiveness of the drug court system that uses the authority of the criminal justice system to encourage abstinence from drugs,” said Governor Bush. “Data show that drug courts provide an exceptionally high success rate for treating the addicted and breaking the cycle between drugs and crime.”

House Bill 199, sponsored by State Senator Locke Burt and State Representative Allen Trovillion, both of whom were on hand for the signing, strengthens Florida’s drug court systems. The Drug Court bill signed into law by the Governor will allow each of Florida’s seventy drug courts to preserve its unique local character while ensuring a degree of uniformity, common training, and universal measurement standards. It also creates a statewide system for transferring drug court participants from one Florida drug court jurisdiction to another.

Jim McDonough, Director of Florida’s Office of Drug Control and present at the graduation, noted: “This bill improves an already highly successful criminal justice-treatment system. Drug courts are setting the pace for retention of addicts in drug treatment programs and for keeping them free of drugs and crime in the months and years after treatment. As a result, we are making steady progress in reducing drug abuse and crime in Florida.”

Patrick Smith first began volunteering when his grandchildren were attending Parker Elementary. “A good education is the best gift you can give a child,” said Smith.